Wishing To Be Someone Else
by lyndsiedanielle
Summary: Stephanie had always longed to be her sister Melanie, married to a man with money and have kids, but her luck never turned out the way she wished. When she meets her newest guy, she's determined to get what she wants.
1. Chapter 1

Stephanie jealously stared at her sister's Facebook page. A few hours ago, while Steph was at work, her sister, Melanie had posted a status stating that she was two months pregnant with her third child. Stephanie hadn't even gotten to meet the second kid. She exited out of the page and sighed. Her brother-in-law, Phil, was some big shot who came up with some kind of new medicine for erectile dysfunction and everyone loved him for it.

She turned off her computer and got up to find something for dinner. After a few minutes of staring at her almost empty pantry, she decided she was eating out again, so she went downstairs to her car and drove off to the nearest McDonalds.

On her way back, she couldn't stop thinking bout how jealous she was of her sister. Melanie met Phil right out of high school, she never had to go to college since Phil came up with his medicine a year later, they always had money, she was about to have three kids and seemed happy. 'I'd be happy too of I never had to work.' Steph thought to herself. She was the exact opposite of Melanie, she went to college for four years, has the shittiest job ever, and barely can come up with enough money to pay the bills, let alone own one car.

"Hi mom." She answered her phone in the elevator, "yeah, I know, she's having another baby. I saw it on Facebook too." Steph unlocked her door and slammed it behind her, "oh, just eating out tonight, I just got home and don't have any time to cook."

Linda, Melanie and Stephanie's mom had to be the most over caring person on earth. Stephanie hated to have to talk to her mom because all Linda wanted to talk about was either what Melanie was up to, or Stephanie's future, "yes mom, I'm just eating out today, not everyday." That was a lie, she ate out five out of seven days of the week, "its fine mom." She sat at her table waiting to eat her food, "can I eat and call you back?"

She hung up and put her head in her hands. She kept tears from falling between her fingers. She picked up her remote and hit power, only to see a blue screen for the third time this week, "damnit!" She let out a frustrated groan as threw the remote at the floor, "why do I even try?" She ate her dinner quickly, staring at the clock on her stove, when she finished, she ripped the cable box out from her TV stand and went back downstairs.

She drove to Comcast in an angry rage, this box was brand new, or so they told her. And the minutes she brought it home, it gave her nothing but problems. She parked in front of Comcast and stormed inside, "this thing hasn't worked for me since I got it. What the hell?"

The young attendant behind the front desk stood up and quickly took the box off the counter, "um, I'll be right back with a new one." She jumped to the back room. When she came back, she was holding a newer looking, shiny black box, "this one is brand-new ma'am. I don't think you should have any problems."

"Yeah, that's what you guys said with the last one." Stephanie started to tell the attendant her Comcast information and as she was about to leave with the new box, a familiar-looking man walked in, wearing a full suit and tie. He smiled at her and it seemed as if everything went in slow motion. He had long blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail and dark brown eyes you could get lost in, "hi." Before she could control herself, she dropped the new box on the floor and the glass on it shattered, "crap."

"Are you a new customer? Why are you getting a new cable box?" The man asked, standing beside her at the counter, grinning.

"Oh, um, mine wasn't' working, it hasn't worked right since I got it." Her face was burning, she opened her mouth to try and say she had to go home, but it was almost like she wasn't able to speak.

"Do you want to go get dinner?" He asked, leaning on the counter, "there's a really good restaurant right down the street I know of."

"Sure." She replied without thinking. A perfect stranger had just asked her out in the middle of a Comcast store, she just felt like she needed a man's attention that bad, "I think I'm gonna need another cable box though."

"I think I can manage that one, did you have a regular box, or a DVR box, or what?" He stepped behind the counter, "or an HD one?"

"Just a regular one, I can't afford all the other stuff." She smiled, shyly, "you work here?"

He sighed, "um, yeah, I'll tell you about that later," he nodded towards the attendant, "go get me a new DVR box, I'll give her that one."

"You don't have to do that." She picked up the broken box and handed it to him, "sorry about this one."

"It's okay. You're right, I don't have to give you a better cable box, but you don't have to go out with me, but you are." He gave her the box and walked with her outside to her car, "so, about dinner, we could walk there. It's just down here a little bit."

"Alright, let me put this in the trunk then." She smiled, "and about you, you're really dressed up to work at Comcast." She motioned to his suit and tie, "you're still really dressed up to be the manager of that Comcast store."

"That's cause I don't work there, and I'm not the manager." He kicked a rock and took his wallet out, "look," he pulled a business card from the front of his wallet, "I am the CEO of Comcast."

"What?" She scoffed, "Comcast's stores have individual CEO's?" She looked at the name on his card, "Paul Levesque?" She read aloud, "where the hell do I feel like I know you from?"

"The commercials. I'm the CEO of Comcast. I do commercials, I own Comcast." He leaned on her car's trunk, "come on, let's go to dinner."

"You own Comcast?" She stood by her car, "who are you trying to kid?" She stubbornly glared at him.

"Nobody. I'm Paul Levesque, the owner, how do you want me to prove it to you?" he stared back at her, holding his wallet, "if anything, why can't I prove it while we're eating?"

Her heart skipped a beat, "okay, fine." She followed him towards a dirty-looking restaurant. He was cute, really cute, and seemed really nice, "you come here a lot?"

"I've been to that store a couple of times. And I've been stuck there, so I ate here, and it's amazing." He opened the door for her, grinning as she walked past.


	2. Chapter 2

Stephanie got back in her apartment and out a piece of paper on her dining table, "I don't believe it. My worst day turns into the most amazing day ever?" She went to her computer and typed Paul's name into Google, getting a million results, and all the pictures were of him. Him with his employees, him by himself in front of a new Comcast store, then, him with a girl. There were a few pictures with him and the same girl, and out of curiosity, she wanted to know who the girl was. She clicked on a picture and found Paul's Wikipedia page, with his personal life and everything.

The girl was his former fiancée, her name was Kelly and all it said was that they had broken up after being engaged for eight months, two months before they were supposed to be married. She went back to the list of pictures of him, smiling in disbelief.

The next day, Stephanie had just gotten home from work when he called, "hello?" Her stomach was filled with butterflies.

"Hey, what are you up to?" His voice was deep and amazing sounding, "how was your day?"

"Okay, I'd say it was a better one compared to some days." She giggled, "how was your day today?"

"Rough, not too great." He cleared his throat, "you want to go out with me somewhere, I haven't eaten anything today."

She could tell, his voice did sound a little weak. She looked at her kitchen clock, it was almost seven PM, "how could you not eat for all this time? Sure, where do you want to go?"

"I just didn't have time, all day. I don't know, we can drive around and find something. Where do you live, I'll come and pick you up." He sounded irritated, "is there an overhang you could stand under so I could find you?"

"Yeah, I live in the big apartment building off of Ryan Avenue." She was giggling, and she started to annoy herself, "when can you get here? Should I be waiting outside soon?"

"I'll be there in a few minutes." He hung up and the phone went silent. Steph ran to her room to get dressed in something other than her jeans. After twenty minutes past, someone knocked on the front door, "Stephanie?"

She jumped up, "who is it?" She looked through the peephole to see Paul holding a bouquet of flowers, "Paul, hi, what are you doing here?" She turned around and looked at her clock, "oh my gosh, I didn't know I was in my room for twenty minutes. How'd you find my apartment number?"

"Your neighbor. I just asked if she knew you, and she said she lived right next to you." He looked around, "can I come in?"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry, come in, I was trying to find something to wear." She closed her door and looked at him. He was wearing a purple plaid shirt and jeans, "I'll just be right back." She nervously went back to her bedroom and kept her jeans on, then put a pink tank top on instead of her dress shirt, "okay, I'm ready."

He smiled and nodded, "alright then, um, you do remember that its raining outside right." He tried to look at her face, occasionally glancing down at her shirt, "you might want like, a jacket or something."

"Oh, yeah, I was going to grab one from here." She went to her hallway closet and took out a black zip-up sweatshirt, "okay, now I'm really ready." She grabbed her purse off of her desk and smiled.

"Me too." He opened her door and walked into the hallway, "where do you want to go?" He followed her down the stairs and to the parking lot, "I know of this really good Mexican food place."

"That sounds good." She nervously sat in his car, smiling, feeling kinda dorky, "Paul do you do that a lot? You know, the 'not-eating' thing?"

"I guess you could say that. Not all the time, but, yeah, a lot, I don't have the time sometimes, and I don't really like eating fast food, and plus, I have no one to eat with when I do have time." He started the car and looked over at her.

"You could ask me and I'll go to lunch with you whenever you want." She giggled, still feeling like she was being a burden to him, "um, you're pretty quiet today."

"I'm hungry." He sighed, "I need to eat something." He stared blankly out the windshield.

She gave him and slight sigh, "Paul, did you really want me to eat with you? It feels like you don't want me here."

"I do, I really do Stephanie, I'm not feeling so hot right now because I haven't eaten and my stomach feels like its eating itself. I almost feel like I'm gonna throw up, but there's nothing in my stomach to throw up." He drove into a small diner parking lot, "I can't go a minute longer without food." He almost jumped out of his car.

"Feel better?" She smiled, barely touching her food, "I don't know, I'm not really hungry now. I was, but now that we're here, the smell of this place is too much." She put her fork down, "I'm sorry."

"Oh, its alright, that's cool." He devoured his plate of beans, "um, are you planning on like, taking it home? Cause, I mean, I'll eat it, but if you are, its fine, I'll just get like, more food."

"No, go ahead, it's all yours." She smiled, watching him take her burrito and rice from her plate. She thought about what she would eat when she got home, and that she should have probably told him she wanted her dinner for later, but didn't have the guts to stop him from eating what he paid for.

He looked up at her, noticing she was deep in thought, "you okay?" He wiped his mouth with his napkin, "is something bothering you?"

"No, I'm fine, I'm just thinking about stuff." She bit her lip, "I have to use the bathroom, I'll be right back." She got up and went running for the restrooms before tears came running down her cheeks in front of him. She slammed the door and locked the single-stall bathroom door behind her. She leaned onto the counter and tried to stop herself from crying. The thought of having no food and a slightly unstable job scared her. She borrowed enough money from her parents and felt like she couldn't ask again. She used a paper towel to hold beneath her eyes so her makeup wouldn't run, then with a wet towel, she tried to keep her cheeks from getting puffy and red.

He stared at her as she walked from the bathroom door all the way to the booth seat in front if him, "Stephanie, are you sure you're okay? That was kinda, I don't know, weird." He took a drink of his soda, "you can talk to me you know."

"Yeah, everything's fine," she lied, putting on her best fake grin and taking a drink of her own soda. After a few seconds of looking away, she glanced back at him and saw he was still giving her his very concerned stare.

"It looks like something's bothering you babe." He shrugged it off and called the waitress to them, "can I get the check please?"

She nodded and went back to the front desk, "don't worry, nothing important is really bothering me." Why was it so easy to lie to him? He seemed like he really wanted to care for her but she wouldn't let him.

"Alright then." He put a credit card on the edge of the table, "I feel much better, I don't really feel dizzy anymore." He started to drink his soda again, only this time, he was practically chugging it through the tiny straw.

"That's really not healthy. You're supposed to eat at least three meals a day. And it's better if you can eat several small meals a day." She sighed, who was she to judge? She usually ate just dinner, or just lunch, skipping breakfast when she ran out of granola bars before her next paycheck. He probably ate all the time and just needed an excuse to ask her out. She stopped thinking about herself and pushed her glass away, "you should take a granola bar with you when you don't think you'll be able to eat. Are you at least drinking water or something when you don't eat?"

"Hmm, that's a good idea. I drink soda a lot, sometimes water." He stood up and smiled at her, "I have to go to the office before I go home, and they're gonna close in a few." He opened the door for her and followed her to his car, "I'll take you home really fast. I have to get into the offices before they close or the security guards won't let me in. I try and say I'm the CEO and they have an identity crisis because they don't believe me."

"They don't see you on TV or anything?" She was confused, "how the heck do they not know you?"

"You ever notice that when you have Comcast, you only see commercials that advertise for special packages, I don't do those commercials. And if they have Comcast, they don't see me. I do the ones that you'd normally see if you had another cable, Internet, or phone company other than Comcast. The ones that really try and convince you to dump the current service provider you have and subscribe to mine. I don't do commercials for Comcast's services, like On Demand, and all the ones for that new DVR box that can record like, four shows at once and have four TV's connected to it. The director, my friend Shawn, doesn't think it would be as realistic with the CEO doing those kinds of commercials. He says that it would look better for the company if we used actors that look like 'real people' and would actually fit in using that stuff."

"In a sense, he makes a good point." She thought about what he was talking about, "you have a box that you can record four things at a time? And you can connect it to four different TV's? That's cool."

"Yeah, I guess it is." He looked over at her, "babe, that's the box I gave you. We're trying to get people to get that one instead of just a basic one, so we make more money." He drove back towards her apartment building.

"Paul, I know this may seem like a dumb question, as you are the CEO of Comcast, but, I feel like I have to ask," she bit her lip, smiling, "do you have Comcast at your house?"

He chuckled, "don't tell anyone, but, no, I don't." He parked in the lot, "let me walk you upstairs." They got out of the car and ran to the overhang, "why did you have to ask that?"

"I don't know, I just had to. If you don't have Comcast, what do you have?" She unlocked the lobby door and pushed a button, "how about we just take the elevator instead."

"Our for TV, our arch-rival, Direct TV, I have Internet through Verizon and my house phone is the only thing that's Comcast, but that's a secret between me, you, my parents who pay the bills to Direct TV and Verizon for me, and my friend Shawn who also has Direct TV and Verizon."

"Wow, what an awesome CEO you are. Don't even use what you own." She put the key in the lock of her door, "well, you should probably get to the office, so the security guards don't question your identity again."

"You know, one time, my secretary fired a few of the guards and hired new ones without telling me anything. And I showed up one time and had no clue who's building they were even guarding, so they called the cops on me." He smiled, "I'll call you, and we can go out again, maybe this time not to eat. Maybe we could go for a movie or something else." He leaned forward towards her, getting closer and closer.

She exhaled as he got what he wanted, at first, it was the lightest kiss she'd ever felt, then he went deeper, and when he started to use his tongue, she felt his hands around her waist, so she put her arms around his neck, "um, shouldn't you be going to your office?" She pulled away, flustered.

"Yeah, yeah I should." He tugged at the bottom of his shirt, "I'll call you, okay?" He backed up towards the elevator, grinning from ear to ear.


	3. Chapter 3

Two weeks went by with no mention from Paul. He hadn't called or texted, or even tried to get a hold of her. Stephanie sat at her desk and sighed at the thought of him. He was nice, and not to mention cute, but he kissed her, he kissed her and left her hanging.

"Miss McMahon, we need to talk." Her boss came into her office and shut the door, "we've been needing to make some cutbacks, if you haven't noticed." He leaned on the corner of her desk with his hands folded in his lap.

"Mr. Gordon, what are you trying to say?" She asked, on the verge of tears. She knew what he was about to say, she'd gotten this speech before.

"Well, as much as I want to tell you we need you, we just um, don't right now." He was looking at her with a fake sympathetic grimace, "I'm sorry. But I promise that if we ever need you in the future, you'll be the first to be called." He stood up, "I'm so sorry Miss McMahon."

"No, I understand. Business is slow, I totally get it. When does my stuff need to be out of here?"

"Um, hopefully by tonight? We're gonna keep you for a few more days with pay so you can try to search for another job, but, we need the office." Her boss shook her hand and left the room.

She sat there in shock, it was so sudden, no notice or anything, they just pretty much fired her in the nicest way possible. She opened her desk drawers and started gathering all her belongings.

On her way out, she passed one of her friends, who had also been putting things in a box, "Candace, what are you doing?"

"Mr. Gordon said," Candace looked up, "oh, looks like he told you too." She sighed and shook her head, "I don't know why Steph. It looks like business was going slow, yeah, but you and I were pretty busy for slow."

Steph nodded, "I know, but maybe this is a sign of something bigger and better." She gave her friend a hopeful smile and continued to leave. She got in her car and let out a long, sad sigh, "what am I gonna do now? I lost my job, and I already don't have any money. And then Paul, he hasn't called me, its been two weeks." Before she could stop herself, she was crying. She cried the whole drive home, occasionally wiping her face with an old napkin. When she got home, she locked her car and dragged herself up to her apartment, and when she opened the door, she was met with a very unexpected face, "what are you doing here?" She looked around at the grocery bags of food on the counter, "what is all this?"

"Food. I just got off an airplane from Montana. And I was hungry." Paul looked up at her from his sandwich, "are you hungry? I can make you a sandwich if you want. I had to go grocery shopping for you cause you didn't have anything. You had peanut butter, but I can't use that without jelly, or bread."

"How did you get in here?" She took a bag of chips and sat down next to him at the table, "wait, did m neighbor let you in? She has the key."

He nodded, "well yeah." He took another bite, "oh, so, I'm sorry I didn't call. It wasn't that I was busy, my cell phone didn't work up there for some strange reason, and so I couldn't." He wiped his face and leaned forward, "where were we the other night before I had to leave?"

She smiled, "its okay, I've just had a rough day. My boss fired me. Well actually he said the company has decided to 'let me go', but pretty much he fired me." She leaned forward, "you have food in your mouth Paul." He swallowed and pushed his lips on hers, "Paul, stop, that's gross."

"What? I don't have any more food in my mouth." He leaned towards her again, "I'm sorry you lost your job. If it's any consolation, I'll bet I could give you a job tomorrow."

She got up and went to the fridge, "I'm hungry, you want to make me a sandwich like you said you would?"

"Sure, what do you want on it?" He stood up, "are you sure you're okay? You're kinda acting a little spacey." He came up behind her at the counter, "so where were we the other day?" He kissed her earlobe.

"We weren't anywhere. We kissed, that was it." She grabbed the loaf of bread and took out a butter knife, "Paul, just stop it." She pushed his arm from her waist.

"Holy crap, what's going on? I know you lost your job and all that, but I offered you another one. What do you want to do? Tell me and I'm sure I can find you that job at Comcast." He playfully pushed her over and took over making her sandwich, "is something else bothering you?"

"No." She leaned on his arm, "I don't know what I want to do. I barely liked the job I had." She looked at her counter, full of food, "why did you really buy me all this?"

"Stephanie, the last date we went out on, we were talking about not eating. Right? And then I came here and found out that you must not ever eat. You didn't have anything to eat in here. And then I was hungry, like I said." He put her sandwich together, "here you go."

They sat down again, "thanks." She started to eat her sandwich, not mentioning that it was the first thing she had eaten all day.

"So, are you busy tonight? I bought food and was gonna make dinner." He sat back in his chair and watched her eat, "what sounds better, spaghetti or lasagna?"

"Umm, I don't know. It doesn't matter." They sat in silence as she finished eating, "why do you keep staring at me?"

"I don't know. Sorry." His eyes looked away, only to return to her after a few seconds, "I think I'll make lasagna."

Having his eyes on her the whole time was uncomfortable, but at the same time, it felt good. He liked her. This was the most attention she'd gotten in a long time, and she wasn't about to make it stop, ""lasagna sounds amazing."


	4. Chapter 4

Stephanie sat at her dining table across from Paul, "do you have a washing machine?" He abruptly asked, "I have my bag in my car and I was wondering if I could wash them here instead of going home." He smiled.

"What are you saying?" She took a drink of water, "are you asking me if you can stay the night?"

"You're talking to me like I'm your daughter and I want to spend the night at my best friend's house." He wiped his face with a paper towel, "but, if it's alright with you, staying the night sounds fun."

"Okay, well the washer is out on the deck. When you walk out there, open the door on the right. The washer's on the bottom, dryer's on top." She couldn't remember the last time she had a guy sleep over, "so where are you gonna sleep?"

He seemed surprised, "um, I don't know. Where am I gonna sleep? The floor?" He put his napkin on the plate and pushed it away, "there's only one bedroom in this place?"

"Well no, there's two, but they're both my bedrooms, one has my bed, and the other, is my nice, spacious walk-in closet. There's nothing but clothes and shoes and all my accessories and stuff."

"Well, I guess I'm sleeping on the couch, or the floor somewhere." He got up and grabbed his keys off the counter, "I'll go get my stuff out of my car."

"What, you aren't even gonna ask for half of my king-sized bed?" She stood up and put their dishes into the sink, "if you asked, I would of considered it maybe."

"How about I ask when I come back." He kissed her cheek, pushing their bodies together, "I'll be back quick." He smiled and opened the front door.

"What the hell am I doing? Why the hell was I so nervous all the times we went out, and then he shows up at my house with all this food and it's almost like I'm ready to fuck him right here on the damn table." She turned the water on and started to wash their plates. She continued to bash herself until he knocked on the door, "is that you?"

"Yeah." Paul's voice responded, "I had something in the car for you." She opened the door and gasped at the huge bouquet of bright colored flowers, "I was gonna have them in here when you came home, but I forgot. I'm surprised they didn't die in the car."

"You're so sweet Paul." She took the flowers and placed them on the counter, "and I have the perfect vase for them, that I never get to use." She started to cut the plastic around them when he wrapped his arms around her waist, "what?"

"You know what." He put his lips to her neck, "where's your bedroom at?" He asked, the sound of want in his voice, "you know, the whole time I was in Montana, sleeping on the little less-than-twin sized cot, I was thinking about you." His lips never left her skin, every word he said turned her on more and more, "were you thinking about me?"

"The sad part is, I don't stop thinking about you. No matter what I try to think about, it always ends back with you." She put her hands over his on her stomach, "my bedroom's the one on the right."

"You want to go there?" He whispered in her ear, "come on, let's go." He was surprised when she turned around, put her hands on his cheeks and held their lips together.

"Yeah, if you can carry me there, I don' think I can walk and kiss you at the same time." Before she could say anything else, she was swept off her feet into the arms of her man. When he laid her out on her bed, a swarm of thoughts came to mind. What was she doing? She barely knew him, but at the same time he wasn't a stranger, she did in fact kinda know him, from eating dinner three times, that was pretty much it.

"Wait, hold on, I didn't think of this. I don't have anything." He was kneeling above her in his boxers and a tank-top, "I don't have a rubber, I mean, condom, we can't."

"Why not?" She whined, breathless, "you don't keep one like, in your wallet, or in your car or something?" She sat up, "so what."

"Well, um, are you on the pill?" He asked, frustrated, "I mean, if you are, you trust me, right, as long as you're on something."

"Yeah, yeah I'm on the pill, I trust you." She didn't even have to think twice about lying to him, it was pre-meditated, she knew if she slept with him, it could get her somewhere with him later, she just didn't really think about where it would get her, "I don't know what it is, I want you so bad."

"Me too." He replied, unhooking her bra, "it's been so long, I haven't had the time for this in like, forever." He took his shirt off and leaned down to kiss her again.

She let out a sigh of relief when he was finally inside her, "go slower." She whimpered a little at a small twinge of pain, but soon enough, he was already in a steady rhythm. It hurt a little, only cause it had been so long, but on the other hand, she couldn't get over the fact of how good he felt between her legs.

Amidst her cries and lusty moans, she thought about what was happening. Occasionally he would kiss her neck, or her cheeks, but he kept his focus on her lips, it was almost like he could tell when it felt a little uncomfortable, and he'd fix what he was doing. He started to whisper little things in her ear, about how much he liked her, and how good it felt, then he told her to say something if she didn't like it, "no it's fine, don't stop." She whined back to his ear.

As they began to reach their end, he started to pick up the pace a little. Her already slightly loud whimpers became more and more audible. She noticed her nails start to dig into his upper back and neck. Her legs felt weak, and Paul, who was silent in the beginning, was now grunting louder with each thrust. The feeling in the pit of her stomach was intolerable and she was about to let out the most overbearing scream when as she opened her mouth, she felt Paul's lips on hers and she tried to contain her cry, "oh God." She panted when he held himself up.

"What?" He smiled, "was it that bad?" He got his answer with another deep kiss, "or maybe not." He began to start all over again, "none of us have work tomorrow, which means, we can stay up as long as we need to."

She was speechless, he was the most amazing man she'd ever been with, and after all that, he wanted more, "okay, just let me catch my breath first." She held her hand to her chest.

"Why? Why catch your breath if I'm just gonna make you breathless again? He put his hand on her hip and kissed her neck, "it's been that long for you too huh?"

She couldn't answer, just nod in the dark, still clutching her chest and breathing like she'd just ran a marathon.


	5. Chapter 5

"Candace, are you busy today?" Stephanie sat on the corner of her bed, freshly showered but wearing sweats, "I need to talk to you, it's really important." That was the message she left on Candace's voicemail.

An hour later, there was a knock on her front door. When she opened it, Candace stood with her purse in one hand and a box of chocolate in the other, "what happened? You sounded upset so I brought you these. Don't tell me that guy dumped you."

"No, he didn't dump me. But I'm sure he'll want to after I tell you what I did." Steph closed the door and threw herself on the couch, "there's an abundance of food in the kitchen of you're hungry. He went shopping for me last Thursday. I came home that day we got fired and he was in here, eating. He bought me like two kitchens full of food."

"Oh really, well that was nice of him." Candace sat on the chair beside her, "so what's going on? Why's he gonna want to dump you?"

"Well, I had sex with him, like four times that night." She paused to think, "yeah, and he said he didn't have a condom, and I lied."

"Lied about what?" Candace leaned forward, "damn girl, four times? You guys must've been going at it like rabbits." She laughed, "how was he?"

"That's not the point, he was great. He asked if I was on the pill and I said I was. I turned it into a little plan, but I feel bad about it." She turned to her best friend and sighed, "if I got pregnant, what would happen?"

"What do you mean what would happen? You'd be pregnant. Then you'd be a mom, and he…he would be a dad. Stephanie, that's it, and you would be the mother of his child. What re you crying about?"

"It's wrong." Stephanie got up, "that was over a week ago. If I was pregnant, I could go take a test now right? Is that enough time?" She went to the kitchen, looking in her cupboards for something to eat.

"Let's go buy one." Candace stood up and grabbed her purse, "it's totally easy, you can by a regular one where you pee on the stick, or, you pee in a bowl put a stick in there." She seemed excited, "I know it's kinda like extortion, but think about this, if you get pregnant, he wouldn't just leave you. He'd stay with you if he's the right guy, and, if he's not the right guy, he'd leave, but you would get child support. It's a win-win for you either way."

"How can you think like that? I feel like such a horrible person." She sighed, "let's go buy the test. You drive so I can think about how I'm gonna deal with this. I need to consider how he's gonna feel."

"He's a guy, he'll be fine. You're the one who's gonna go through hormonal torture." Candace opened her car door and got in, "what are you so worried about? You'd never have to work again Steph, don't even have to think about finding another job."

The only thing she could think about was how exciting it could be for her. Candace was right, she wouldn't have to work anymore. She was gonna be just like her sister, that is, if she was pregnant. Her thoughts were interrupted by the loud ringer on her cell phone, "hi Paul." She couldn't help but smile.

"What are you doing later?" He asked. No hello, no how are you today, just angry sounding, "Stephanie?"

"Um, I'm not doing anything later. Why? What's up?" She bit her lip and looked up at Candace, "is everything okay?"

"Sure. We'll say that." He sighed, "I'm sorry, it's just been a really bad day. And you, you can make it better." He laughed, "I just saw you last night and I already miss you."

"Aww, well I miss you too." She played a little cute voice, "when can you come see me? I'm free almost all the time you know."

"Maybe I can get a lunch break. Are you home right now?" He sounded really irritated, "you sound like you're in a car. You shouldn't be driving on the phone you know?"

"I'm not driving. I'm in the car with my friend. Which answers your question, no, I'm not home right now, but I will be in a little while." She cleared her throat, "you sound really mad."

"Well, yeah, I kinda am, but don't worry about it. I'm being chased by the FCC for another small incident. It's not my fault. It's Earl Ardon's fault." He stopped, "I'll talk to you later about it. Comcast made a mistake, that's all."

"We can talk about it later, that's okay." She was grinning, "Candace and I are about to go into, a store," she stuttered, "I'll call you when I'm home, how about that?"

"That's fine, yeah. I'll talk to you then." He hung up without even saying bye. Stephanie put the phone in her lap and swallowed as the color drained from her face, "something happened today. I can't do this today. He's all pissed off at something."

"Just take the test today and then decided when you want to tell him. It's not like you have to tell him today or anything." They got out of the car and slowly went in the drugstore, "we're women, we can keep secrets."

Every word that came out of Candace's mouth made Stephanie feel worse and worse, "what if he's mad at me? I don't want him to be all mad at me Candace."

"He won't be. It was a double mistake, you said he stopped to ask about condoms and asked if you were on the pill right?" Candace seemed to know exactly where the pregnancy tests were, "well, what'd you say back? Did you answer understandably?"

"Um, I think so," she thought, "yeah, he asked if I was on the pill and if I trusted him. I said I was on the pill, completely understandably and audibly, and I told him I trusted him." She stared at the wide selection of tests on the shelf in front of her, "which one should I buy?"

"I don't know, the ones with the plus and negative signs are easy." Candace pointed out, "I've had to use one once." She waited impatiently as Stephanie made her choice, "this is exciting Steph, it would be really cool if you were pregnant."

"I'm not so sure about that." They went up to the front of the store with a two-pack, "I don't know how I'd tell him. It would all go back to that night."

"Yeah, well, everybody makes mistakes. Obviously, you two were so wrapped around the idea of fucking each other, nobody thought of what the consequences might be." It was the first normal thing Candace said all day, "I can't wait to actually meet this guy. I mean, you guys have only been dating for what? Like two weeks?"

"No, like five. We dated for two weeks before he left and went to Montana and didn't call me. He was gone for two more weeks, and it's been a week since he's been back. Five weeks. A month and seven days."

"Hmm. Five weeks and you might be knocked up. Actually, I'll be right back, let me buy you a gift, I need something for you." She walked away, leaving Stephanie with the cashier giving her a bewildered stare.

"Candace." Stephanie pleaded, "that's not necessary, if Paul and I need condoms, we will come buy some ourselves."

"Oh, okay, cause that worked last time so well. If you had had some, we wouldn't be here in the first place. Put these in your purse from now on." She walked away from paying the cashier and shoved the condoms in Stephanie's purse, "this way, whatever happens later on in yours and Paul's life, you'll be prepared."

"I though you said this was a good idea of I was pregnant." They went back to the car, "you are kinda right. I mean, he or his money would always be there for me. Like I want. I don't have to worry about bills. And I would be a mom, like I've always wanted." She continued to think in happiness as they sped home to take the test.


	6. Chapter 6

"The instructions say that you can pee on the stick, or pee in a cup and put the stick in the cup. It's your choice. When I took one, I had problems with peeing on the stick. It's kinda hard." Candace stood outside the door as Stephanie stood in the bathroom with the pregnancy test stick.

"Go get me a cup. I'm not about to fail at this." She opened the door, "or just get me like a bowl that I can throw away. I think I have paper bowls on top of the refrigerator."

"Why would you have paper bowls?" Candace grabbed the plastic package of bowls, "I can't get over how awesome this is. If you have a baby, can it call me Auntie? I've always wanted to be called Auntie, but I don't think my brother plans on having kids."

"Shut up Candace. I'm trying to think positive." Steph snatched the bowl from her friend and slammed the bathroom door.

"You need to realize that thinking positive is actually being pregnant, convincing this Paul guy that you love him, and getting married. That's positive." Candace opened the fridge as she waited, "and then, after you're married, that's when you can tell him the truth. You can tell him that you lied and wanted to get pregnant and all that, and maybe by that time, you will love him too."

"I can't tell him that." Stephanie came out, "I have to wait two minutes. It's on the bathroom counter. I don't think I can look at it. You have to read it for me."

"Hell yeah I will." She grabbed Steph's hands, "I will be there for you no matter what. Even though you know what I want for you…" Before she could finish, the front door opened and Paul walked inside, "oh, I'll be waiting in the bathroom, I think I just got my period, let me take my purse." She grabbed her purse and shut the bathroom door.

He looked up at Steph, "I thought you were home by yourself." He got his key out of the lock, "who's that?" He asked in a whisper.

"That's my friend Candace. We worked together, and we got fired on the same day." Stephanie waited till the door closed to get close to him, "I can tell her to leave if you don't want her here."

"I don't care. Its fine with me that she's here." He put his arms around her, "I have a bad day and when I see you, my day just totally turns around." He kissed her.

"Sorry to interrupt." Candace came out of the bathroom, "but, um, Stephanie, we need to talk in the bedroom, or other bathroom, or somewhere. I need to talk to you, it's personal."

"Oh, okay, I'll be right back Paul." She smiled and followed Candace to her bedroom, "what's going on?" She flinched when Candace slammed the bedroom door, "is it the test? What did it say?"

"Why don't you look for yourself." She held the plastic stick to Steph's face, "what do you think of that? You know what that means right?"

As Steph read it, she saw her life flash before her eyes. It was a plus sign. It was telling her she was indeed pregnant, "okay, now I have to call my doctor. Because sometimes you can get a false positive."

"So you think it's wrong? Okay. Well how about you take the other one tomorrow morning? You have to do it the first time you go to the bathroom. Then you'll know if its wrong or not."

"I will. Tomorrow morning." Stephanie smiled, "now, um, you have to go home." She felt bad for telling her to just leave, but Paul being there seemed like more of a priority.

"Whoa, what? Why do I have to go home? He's here! If he can be here, I have the same right to be here." She opened her door, "you'd better hide that test somewhere, somewhere where 'you-know-who' isn't gonna find it."

"I'm gonna put it in my other room. He wouldn't just go in there." They opened the door to her closet bedroom and put the tests and box on her chair, "alright, let's go out there, you just stay then. If you must."

"Well yeah, I have to stay. I haven't even met this guy. I have to make sure he's not like, super weird and you just can't see it." They came back into the living room, trying not to act suspicious.

"Uhm, so, hi." Paul stuttered, "you must be Candace. I'm Paul, Paul Levesque." He held his hand out, only to be ignored.

"So what are we eating for dinner?" Candace asked, a smirk on her face, "I could eat right now? I'm freaken hungry." She started to look through the kitchen.

"I'm really sorry." Stephanie whispered in Paul's direction. As much as she wanted Candace and Paul to meet, this wasn't the time, "Candace, come here," she pulled her friend aside, "stop it, you're embarrassing me. Look how he's looking at us. Just stop."

"Stop what? What am I doing?" Candace rolled her eyes, "if he likes you, he'll like your friends too." She patted her shoulders, "anyway, so what's for dinner?"

"Steph, are you hungry? I could take you guys out somewhere if you want." Paul sat at the kitchen table, "where should we go? We could have Mexican food, Italian food, Chinese food, or something else. You guys can decide."

"Chinese food sounds really good." Stephanie held her stomach, "what do you think Candace? I'm getting my jacket."

"Sounds fine to me." Her and Paul watched her walk away, "so, where'd you guys meet?" She looked at Paul.

He sat back and stared at her, "in the Comcast store." He felt uncomfortable with Candace looking him up and down, "how long have you known Stephanie?"

"A few years." She smiled flirtatiously, "you have any brothers?" She seemed to be getting closer, "how much do you like Stephanie?"

"I don't have any brothers. I do have two sisters though." He stood up, "are you almost ready Steph?" He was nervous, "I like her a lot, why?"

"Just asking." She chewed on her fingernail, "she's really lucky. To find someone as nice as I've heard you are, and cute too."

"What are you doing?" Stephanie stood in the hallway with a puzzled stare, Paul was slowly trying to move towards the living room, out of the kitchen, "Candace?"

"Nothing, we were just talking." She laughed nervously, seeming flustered, "I asked if he had any brothers, that's all."

"Um, okay." Paul nodded, "who's hungry? Let's go eat, and I'll get us a table somewhere on the way there." He had already gotten the door open, "come on babe, let's go."


	7. Chapter 7

"Hi, I need to make an appointment with Dr. Ibarra." Stephanie sat on her couch on the phone, "well I've taken two pregnancy tests, and they both came up positive." She was nervous, at first, the thought of maybe being pregnant was a little scary, but tangible, the scary feeling got worse as she sat on the phone, "please, as soon as possible."

She got off the phone with the nurse with an appointment in two days. She laid down across the couch and closed her eyes, tears falling back past her ears and into her hair. The next thing she knew, she woke up, feeling nauseous. She sat up and held her stomach. The more she thought about it, the worse the feeling got, then she ran to her bathroom to throw up, "oh my God." She moaned as she leaned over the toilet.

"Baby, I got off work today." She heard the front door open and close. She slammed the door and turned the shower on to make it seem like she was doing something. She flushed the toilet, stripped herself of her clothes and jumped in the shower, "babe?" He knocked on the door.

"Oh, hey, what's up?" She pushed the glass door out of the way and smiled at him, "when did you get here?"

"Like, a minute or two ago." He smiled, "you have anywhere to go today?" He leaned on the bathroom counter, looking her up and down, "I don't have anywhere to be."

"What are you saying? Too bad it looks like you already took a shower. If you didn't, maybe I would have invited you in, with me."

"What? A guy can't take two showers in one day? Especially one with someone else?" He unbuttoned his shirt, "you aren't busy though right?"

She giggled and shook her head, "no Paul, I'm not busy today." She kept a smiled on her face while he undressed himself and kissed her, "how'd you get work off?"

"I just said I didn't feel good. I didn't have to say much." He pushed her back into the shower with his mouth on hers, "you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" She pushed away and noticed her was all over her and she was barely touching him, her hands were at her sides instead of around him, "maybe the shower isn't the best place for this."

"But why not?" He kissed her ear, "are you sure you're okay? If you don't want to, we don't have to, its okay." He stood on his hands and knees above her, showing off his beyond perfect body.

"What the hell. There's a first time for everything right?" She put her arms around his neck and pulled him close, "I've never done this before."

"Well I'll do most of the work for us. How's that?" He scooped her up and put her against the steamy tile wall.

Two days later, Stephanie sat on the chair in her doctor's office, "well, Miss McMahon, how long has it been since you last had your menstrual cycle?" Her doctor sat on his computer, staring at her test results.

"I don't know, not really recent. Maybe like a month ago." She nervously fidgeted her fingers around, "am I pregnant?"

"From the looks of these couple of tests, I think so. I just have one more thing I want to do." He stood up and put some rubber gloves on, "the gel will probably be a little cold. Just a warning." He put a big glob of gel on her stomach and put an ultrasound device over it, "breathe a little lighter."

Stephanie waited in anticipation as her doctor stared at the screen and hummed to himself, then, she turned the screen to her and pointed, "looks like you are indeed pregnant. Look here, it's a heartbeat. A very strong heartbeat."

"That's my baby?" She squinted her eyes to look at the screen, "it already has a heartbeat?"

"Yes it does." The doctor smiled and wiped the gel off her stomach, "I'm gonna need to make you another appointment for pre-natal care you know, you're gonna have a lot of appointments coming up."

She was silent. All she could think about was how she was gonna tell Paul, and how he was gonna react. Was he gonna be mad? She didn't think he would be, but at the same time, she didn't see how he would be happy either. She left the doctor's office with a list of items she needed to buy, with a do's and don'ts list.

As much as she wanted to start calling her friends and family, she refrained from grabbing her phone from her purse. She wanted Paul to be the first one to know, even though Candace already kinda knew, but it hadn't been for sure yet. She threw her stuff on the kitchen table and looked through her mail, spotting her final paycheck, "you're going to the baby." She opened it and threw the envelope away.

She came out of her bathroom and grabbed her purse again, checking to make sure she had her doctor's list. She locked the door behind her and slowly started for her car, meeting her sister on the way, "Melanie, hi, what are you doing here?" She shoved the list in her pocket.

"I need to borrow some shoes, Kayla has a ballet recital thing tomorrow night, and I know you have a bunch of really nice shoes for work. Can I please borrow a pair?"

"I was just about to go to the store, but yeah, come on." She turned around and walked back to her apartment. She led her sister to her second bedroom, not really remembering the two pregnancy tests laying on the a card table.

"Steph? Are you pregnant?" Melanie saw the two tests, and the box laying on the table, "you have pregnancy tests in here. Why in here?"

"Damnit." Stephanie mumbled under her breath, "Melanie, promise me you won't tell anyone, especially mom and dad. Please keep it a secret between you and me right now. I want to tell people."

"You're really pregnant? That's great Steph! Who's the lucky guy? And why haven't I met him yet?" Melanie hugged her, "are you still with the guy?"

"Yeah, he just doesn't know I'm pregnant yet. His name is Paul, and him and I have only been dating for maybe two months. I just went to the doctor's today though. I'm kinda scared."

"Why? Being pregnant is so exciting. It does amazing things to your body. You're gonna love it Steph." She held her own stomach, "that means that your baby and Parker are gonna be so close in age."

"You're four months though, how do you already know its gonna be a boy? And you already named him?" Stephanie hadn't even begun to think about names.

"Well Phil and I already have two girls, we want a boy now. But we have a name if it's a girl, we'll name her Megan." She seemed really excited.

"So you are going with the first letters thing? You know, the names of the girls start with the first letter of your name, and the boys with Phil?"

"Isn't that cute?" Melanie was smiling from ear to ear, "you totally should do that too. I have a book and could totally help you with naming it."

"Maybe, it all depends on what Paul and I want to name it. I want to talk to him about it first." She opened her closet, "there, here's most of my shoes, it's your choice."

"Come on Steph, let's talk first, who's this Paul guy? When do I get to meet him? Can I meet him before mom and dad?"

Stephanie thought, "I'm thinking about waiting until a big holiday, like Thanksgiving or something, and just showing up to mom and dad's house and have me being pregnant a big surprise. What do you think of that?"

"It sounds like it would turn out really good. But, do you think mom and dad would react in a good way? Maybe you should tell them first, I don't know."


	8. Chapter 8

It was the day before her third doctor's appointment, Steph thought it would be the right time to tell Paul everything, she just didn't know how. She was hiding everything from him in her second bedroom. She had all kinds of vitamins and pamphlets in there, and knew he would never find out. She was 10 weeks along, it was time he knew before he just figured it out when she started to gain weight, and then be mad that she didn't tell him.

She dialed his phone number and waited as it started to ring, then he answered, "hello?" He sounded surprised, "hey, I'm kinda in a meeting right now, is everything okay?"

"Oh, yeah, everything's fine. I just really need to talk to you. And it's really important." She sighed, "but you can call me when your meeting is over, and I can talk to you then. It's okay."

"Are you sure? I mean, I could get out of this for you. Just tell me you need me to come home and I will." He was whispering, "hold on, let me just get out of here." The phone went silent.

She waited with her phone stuck to her ear, she wanted him to come home right now, but she didn't want it to be because she needed to tell him she was pregnant. She wished there was an easier way to just come out and say it.

"Babe?" He brought her out of her daze, "so, I tried, but these people are trying to blame me for something that happened in fuckin' Alabama. Are you sure everything is alright? It sounds like something's wrong."

"Paul, I want to tell you in person, but I can't." She exhaled and closed her eyes, "I'm pregnant. And I have been for two and a half months."

Both lines were silent, nobody knew what to say. The longer the silence lasted, the more awkward it got, "you're pregnant? Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure. I've been to two doctor's appointments already. I'm pretty sure I'm pregnant." She wiped her eyes, "I want you to come to my third."

"You've known about this for how long, and didn't tell me earlier?" He sounded upset, "I'm not talking about this now, we can talk later." He just hung up, without even saying goodbye.

"Fuck." She threw her phone on the ground and put her head in her hands. She was mad at herself for lying and saying she was on the pill, if she would have said no, none of this would be happening. She picked herself up and slowly walked towards her bedroom, then plopped herself onto her bed. She lay there, staring up at the ceiling, crying. Tears streamed down past her ears and into her hair while she tried to think about what Paul was gonna say to her later on.

Paul slammed the front door and threw his jacket on the kitchen table, "Stephanie?" He yelled out, but didn't get an answer. He stomped down the hallway and into her bedroom, not expecting to find her fast asleep. He looked at her and sighed, he couldn't wake her up now, he would rather wait until she woke up on her own to talk to her.

He turned around and closed her door behind him. He went to her fridge and grabbed everything to make a sandwich, then sat at the table.

"Hi." Stephanie stood in the hallway opening, "when did you get here?" She didn't move, just continued to stand against the wall.

He looked up at her, not even the slightest smile or turn in his lips, "a few minutes ago. You must've heard me." He spread mayonnaise on a piece of bread in silence.

She didn't want to be the one to bring anything up. She really wanted him to say something about her being pregnant, in hopes that maybe he wouldn't, "what was the meeting about? What happened in Alabama?"

He put the bread and the butter knife down and bit his lip, "I don't think you need to be worrying about that right now. We both know what we need to be discussing."

She nodded and sat down across from him, "so I'm pregnant." She watched him put ham on his bread, "I don't know what to do."

"Well you've had two doctors appointments, I think you should know what to do." He sliced a piece of cheese and put it on top of his sandwich, followed by lettuce.

"Now isn't the time to be a fuckin' asshole, okay?" She sighed, not believing what she'd just said, "I don't want to talk to you if you're gonna be mean about it."

He sat back in the chair and nodded, "alright, I'm sorry. I'm just kinda mad that you're telling me now and not when you found out, whenever that was."

"That day you met Candace, the reason she was acting all weird and suspicious was because I had taken a test that day, and it came up positive. But I couldn't say anything because I had to take another one for backup. But she knows, I told her cause she's my best friend, and I need to be able to tell her everything."

"Before telling me? She's not the father, I am. And I didn't get to know until now." His words stuck in her head, he wasn't upset because she was pregnant, he was upset that he didn't get to know sooner.

"My sister Melanie found out too. She came over and saw the tests, I didn't have time to hide them. I didn't really want her to know yet. I wanted to tell her after the more important people, like you, and maybe my parents."

"Well what if we just do away with it and nobody has to know, you can tell Candace and your sister that it wasn't the time."

"No." She shook her head, "if anything, we can put it up for adoption, that or I keep it, nothing else." She crossed her arms, "I'm not doing 'that'."

They stared at each other for a few seconds, "alright, well, I don't know what we're gonna do." He looked down and started to eat his sandwich in silence.

She watched him, "so do you want to come with me to my next doctor's appointment? I really want you to." She leaned on the table, "please?"

"I don't know." He kept looking down, "this is all just not right Stephanie. I don't know what to do, I'm confused." He suddenly shot her a glare, "wait a second, you told me you were on the pill, how are you pregnant?"

"I lied." She started crying, "this didn't go through my mind that night, okay? I wasn't thinking, I shouldn't have said I was."

"I should have just gone to the store for condoms. It's my fault too." He put his head in his hand, "damnit, what do we do?"

"I don't know." She wiped her face, "are we gonna tell people or what? Like, can I tell my parents?"

He shrugged, "well you can't keep it a secret, I would have to tell my parents too, or they'd be pissed if they found out from anyone but me."


	9. Chapter 9

"Look." Stephanie pulled her shirt up and put her hand on her stomach, "I just keep getting bigger and bigger." She looked down, "I'm kinda scared though."

"Yeah." He was sitting on her bed, thinking, "me too." He hadn't told anyone yet, neither did she, they still were surprised with the fact they were having a baby.

"Are you okay?" She sat next to him and leaned on his arm, "you look upset. Why are you all mad looking?"

"I don't know, I'm just thinking about this whole thing. I never wanted kids, I don't know why."

Her heart fell, "why didn't you tell me that?" She felt her stomach churn, "you still don't want kids huh? Paul, I'm sorry, we should have talked about this before I just said I wanted to keep it."

He stood up and grabbed his jacket, "I think I just want to go back to my house." He started to put his jacket on when she pulled on his arm, "what?" He asked, slightly irritated.

"I have to tell you what I kind of did, I sorta may have gotten pregnant on purpose, without actually thinking about it." She saw how his facial expressions changed, he looked even more angry and upset.

"You what?" He took a deep breath, "what the hell do you mean you may have gotten pregnant on purpose, what the fuck?" He yelled, "Stephanie, why would you do that?"

She shook her head, "if only you knew, I was selfish, okay? I'll admit to that, I was selfish and I wanted me to be happy, without thinking about anyone else. I lied to you and said I was on the pill because I wanted kids. All I could think about was myself."

"I can't believe you did that." He opened her bedroom door, "I can't even think right now, I don't know what to say to you."

"I have a sister who has everything, a rich husband, two kids and one more on the way. She has no clue what hard work is and I've been jealous of her since she met her husband."

"Good for you, now you won't have to work either, you're pregnant with my kid, great. You have money, and kids, just like you wanted, and here I am, the one who got fucked over. Thanks Stephanie."

"Stop it!" She screamed, tears streaming down her cheeks, "please just stop!" She reached out and slapped his face, "you acting like a jerk doesn't help anyone, okay?"

"I'm not trying to act like a jerk, you're the jerk." He stared her down, "I can't believe you did this to me. I liked you a lot, I really did, but I don't know what to think of you now. I'm freaken pissed now Stephanie, you did this cause you're jealous of your sister? What the hell is that?"

"I'm sorry!" She sat on the bed and cried into her hands, the sight made Paul kind of uneasy. He watched her sob, and after a few seconds, he took his coat back off and sat next to her, "what are you doing?"

"Baby, stop crying." He pulled her into a hug, "I'm sorry I got upset, but, like I said, I never wanted kids because I'm always busy, I don't have time. And, I've had a similar situation before."

"Really?" She looked down at her stomach, seeing how her body was completely different, "what happened in your past situation?"

"You aren't married right? And it is my baby?" He was also staring down at her stomach, she then nodded, "okay, so, I was engaged once, and, her name was Kelly, we were engaged for eight months, had all of our wedding plans ready and everything. She was gonna be four months pregnant, then, it all fell apart, it wasn't my kid, she was married, she had been married for seven years, her and her husband had it all planned out." He sighed, "that's why I ask if the baby is mine, and that you aren't married."

"I've never been married, and yes Paul, the baby is definitely yours. I would never do that, I don't want your money as much as I'd rather just have you." She looked into his eyes, "do you still like me?"

He leaned in and kissed her, "well yeah I do, but we've been dating for just a couple of months. What if everything between us just doesn't work out? We can't force it, you know, cause then we'll grow to hate each other after awhile, I don't want to hate you. It would only make it a bad living situation for the baby."

"Are we keeping it? Are you gonna be there with me?" She put her arms around him and held him tight, "who do we get to tell first, honey?"

"Who do we want to tell?" He swallowed, "my parents are gonna make a really big deal out of this if we don't end up making this right, meaning, getting married."

"Well, okay, say we just got engaged, would that be the same to them?" She sighed, "or we could just have a really small, casual wedding, just close family and friends, not a whole bunch of people."

"I want to surprise my parents, they always thought I'd never have kids cause I work too much, I worked all the time to pay my bills, they thought I worked for fun."

"Why would anyone want to work for fun?" He smiled, "you worked to pay the bills, but you never bought food. I buy you food."

"I like spending my money on me, not on a houseful of food that I usually never eat anyway. But I have a lot of clothes that I'll wear all the time." She looked down, "well, I don't have very much that I can wear now, but after the baby's born I'll be able to wear my own clothes."

"Looks like for now you're wearing mine." He gave her a peck on the cheek, "do you need your own clothes babe? I think we can work out a deal about clothes."

"What do you mean by 'work out a deal'? What do you want?" She turned to him and smiled.

"No matter how much my parents plead to have us for dinner during either Thanksgiving, or Christmas, don't get upset with me cause I'm telling them no."

"Aww, but why not Paul?" She straddled his legs, "you can't keep a baby a secret very long, especially with you being in public media. And if you were able to keep it a secret for a good amount of time, they're gonna be more upset with you that you didn't tell them for so long than if you were to just get it over with and explain what happened."

He blankly stared at her, "how in the hell do you know all that?" He put his hands on the sides of her stomach, "I just don't want to deal with them either way, cause I know they're gonna be all weird about it. My parents are just like yours, they never thought I would have kids cause, well, just because."

"Because why?" She bit her lip, "after Kelly?"

"Well yeah, and they have strong beliefs that I'm a womanizer and this was bound to happen. And another thing, they're religiousness forces them to believe that if I have a kid out of wedlock, bad shit's gonna happen to me."

"Damn, I'm glad my parents seem ten times better than that. Considering my mom got pregnant with my brother long before they got married. He was seven at their wedding. And my sister was three. I think they're just gonna be really surprised, probably happy cause I'll actually let them be grandparents."

"Whoa, what's that supposed to mean?" He gave a her a cock-eyed stare, "oh, that must mean your sister doesn't let them be grandparents to her kids."

"Nope, my sister doesn't really come around much now she's got all her rich best friends and her huge house. I've never actually met my nephew, and he's two. I've only seen him over Facebook."

"You think your parents would baby-sit?" Paul laughed, "I'm just kidding, unless you think they would, then we could still make plans together and not have to worry about finding someone that we've never met to watch our baby."

"I'm pretty sure they would, I'm gonna be their only child who has kids they can be around. My brother Shane, he and his wife had a miscarriage, and for now, they don't plan to have kids. And then there's my sister with her issues, they'd love to be able to baby-sit their grandkids." She kissed his cheek, "would it be appropriate to tell you I love you? Cause it would make me feel a lot better right now."

"I love you too." He smiled, pretending to feel better about the situation while inside, he was still sort of fuming with anger about everything, but he knew that wouldn't get him anywhere.


End file.
